I sometimes wonder why St. Francis is so popular,
so universally loved. Almost everything he did was pretty much
what most of us don’t want to do!
Think of it: many of Francis’ contemporaries
thought he was a fool, and who wants to be thought a fool! And
Francis embraced the most radical sort of poverty and, again, who wants
to be that poor! And, then, Francis embraced the gospel of peace
in quite a literal way, and who of us does that!
So why is St. Francis so universally loved?
I asked that question of some friends the other day and the answer they
came up with was this: because he is so Christ-like. That works
for me! Our attraction to St. Francis is a little like our
attraction to Christ. We know we will always fall short – very
short! – when it comes to being like Christ, but that doesn’t keep us
from loving him and wanting to be like him.
And I think we are also attracted to the human
side - and even to the human quirks - of St. Francis. We like the
fact that as a young man, he enjoyed the finer things of life – nice
clothes, rich food, abundant drink, having fun - cavorting and
carousing. We like that. And we like the fact that Francis
was very much himself and did some fairly shocking – if not outrageous -
things at times – like stripping off his clothes in the bishop’s house –
right in front of his disapproving father and a whole lot of, I’m sure,
very surprised people! How else was he going to convince them that
he had changed! We like that kind of in-your-face behavior. In
moderation!
And we like the fact that St. Francis was
approachable, down-to-earth, and that he spoke the language of the
common folk – another way of saying that we like Francis in the
same way that we like – no, love – our Christmas creches.
Christmas manger scences were his creation, after all – his idea.
Francis knew how to get people’s attention, to teach them what it meant
for Jesus to have been born poor in an animal shelter. A picture –
or in this case, a stable – was worth a thousand words.
And we like the fact that St. Francis liked
animals – made friends with animals, and even preached to them –
including those lucky swallows and crows (who would sometimes drown out
his sermons), not to mention that murderous wolf of Gubbio who, when
Francis charmed him with his smile and gentle words, had a change of
heart and became meek as a lamb.
And we like the fact that St. Francis was willing
to take his life in his hands for what he believed in - as he did when
he went to visit the Sultan of Egypt. The Crusades were on, and
the Sultan had put a price on the head of every Christian. That
didn’t stop Francis. He boldly crossed the battle lines, was taken
prisoner, and when he was brought before the Sultan, utterly charmed him
by the humility and love in his heart.
And, of course, we like St. Francis because of
the deep reverence and awe he had for God’s creation. His Canticle
of the Sun in which he praises brother sun, sister moon, brother fire,
sister water, mother earth – speaks to us in a profound way and awakens
us to the glories of creation as well as to the glories of the Creator.
In a world that is suffering from all the ways we have recklessly and
selfishly exploited and plundered it, we find in St. Francis our
inspiration, our patron, our hope.
And we like St. Francis because, like Jesus, he
not only loved the poor, he actually became poor himself, and found his
joy in having nothing and hanging out with the poor. We love the
stories of St. Francis kissing the leper in the same way we love the
gospel stories of Jesus reaching out, touching, and healing the leper.
My friends, I think it’s entirely true that we
love St. Francis because he was so much like Christ. He even
received and carried about in his own body the wounds of Christ – so
closely identified did he become with Christ.
As we pray today at his tomb, may the 800 years
that separate us slip away and may we feel the same kind of closeness to
him that he felt with Christ. And even though so many of the
daring and difficult things he did are pretty much things we really
don’t want to do, may our encounter with St. Francis in this place made
holy by his life and his death, fire up the fool in us – the fool who
will be willing to let go, throw caution to the winds, and take Christ
at his word!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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